The Internet is a vast computer network consisting of many smaller networks that span the world. A network provides a distributed communicating system of computers that are interconnected by various electronic communication links and computer software protocols. Because of the Internet's distributed and open network architecture, it is possible to transfer data from one computer to any other computer worldwide. In 1991, the World-Wide-Web (WWW or Web) revolutionized the way information is managed and distributed.
The Web is based on the concept of hypertext and a transfer method known as Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) which is designed to run primarily over a Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) connection that employs a standard Internet setup. A server-computer may issue the data and a client computer displays or processes it. TCP may then convert messages into streams of packets at the source, then reassemble them back into messages at the destination. Internet Protocol (IP) handles addressing, seeing to it that packets are routed across multiple nodes and even across multiple networks with multiple standards. HTTP protocol permits client systems connected to the Internet to access independent and geographically scattered server systems also connected to the Internet.
Client side browsers, such as Netscape Navigator and/or Microsoft Internet Explorer (MSIE) provide graphical user interface (GUI) based client applications that implement the client side portion of the HTTP protocol. One format for information transfer is to create documents using Hypertext Markup Language (HTML). HTML pages are made up of standard text as well as formatting codes that indicate how the page should be displayed. The client side browser reads these codes in order to display the page. A web page may be static and requires no variables to display information or link to other predetermined web pages. A web page is dynamic when arguments are passed which are either hidden in the web page or entered from a client browser to supply the necessary inputs displayed on the web page. Common Gateway Interface (CGI) is a standard for running external programs from a web server. CGI specifies how to pass arguments to the executing program as part of the HTTP server request. Commonly, a CGI script may take the name and value arguments from an input form of a first web page which may be used as a query to access a database server and generate an HTML web page with customized data results as output that is passed back to the client browser for display.
The Web is a means of accessing information on the Internet that allows a user to “surf the web” and navigate the Internet resources intuitively, without technical knowledge. The Web dispenses with command-line utilities, which typically require a user to transmit sets of commands to communicate with an Internet server. Instead, the Web is made up of millions of interconnected web pages, or documents, which may be displayed on a computer monitor. Hosts running special servers provide the Web pages. Software that runs these Web servers is relatively simple and is available on a wide range of computer platforms including PC's.
A Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) is a compact string of characters for identifying an abstract or physical resource. URIs, is the generic set of all names and addresses that refer to objects on the Internet. URLs URIs that refer to objects accessed with existing protocols are known as URLs. A URL is the address of a file accessible on the Internet. The URL contains the name of the protocol required to access the resource, a domain name, Fully Qualified Domain Name (FQDN), or IP address that identifies a specific computer on the Internet, and a hierarchical description of a file location on the computer. In addition, the last (optional) part of the URL may be a “?” followed by a query string having name/value pairs for parameters (e.g. “?size=small&quantity=3”) or a “#” followed by a fragment identifier indicating a particular position within the specified document.
The URI “http://www.example.com:80/index.html#appendix” is the concatenation of several components where “http:” is the scheme or protocol, “//www.example.com” is the FQDN having “www” as the host of the domain name “example.com”, “:80” is the port connection for the HTTP server request, “index.html” is the filename located on the server, “#appendix” is the identifier to display a fragment of the HTML file called “index”. The URL “http://www.example.com” also retrieves an HTML file called “index” on a HTTP server called “example.com”. By default, when either a port or filename is omitted upon accessing a HTTP server via a URL, the client browser interprets the request by connecting via port 80, and retrieving the HTML file called “index”.
A domain name consists of two parts: a host and a domain. Technically, the letters to the right of the “dot” (e.g., tut.net) are referred to as Top Level Domains (TLDs), while hosts, computers with assigned IP addresses that are listed in specific TLD registries are known as second-level domains (SLDs). For the domain name “tut.net”, “.net” is the TLD, and “tut” is the SLD. Domain name space is the ordered hierarchical set of all possible domain names either in use or to be used for locating an IP address on the Internet. TLDs are known as top-level domains because they comprise the highest-order name space available on the Internet. Second-level domains, as well as third-level domains (3LDs) such as “king.tut.net”, are subsidiary to TLDs in the hierarchy of the Internet's DNS.
The main use of a web browser location field is for locating URLs to access resources. Entering a URL in the location field of a web browser serves as a means to access that URL. Because the function of the location field is so critical for accessing resources, the design of such location fields have rivaled much competition and innovation between existing web browser products. Improvements to better track and organize sites of URLs that users have visited such as Bookmark folders, URL history, and the personal toolbar are all examples of functionality designed to help users navigate.
A more recent feature called Smart Browsing is integrated into Netscape Navigator that uses Internet Keywords so users can streamline the use of URLs and get fast access to web sites using the browser's location field. Any single or multiword strings typed into the browser's location field that does not include a “.” are sent via HTTP to a server at “netscape.com”. The keyword server pulls the string and compares it to several separate lists of keyword-URL pairs. If the keyword system finds a match, it redirects the user's browser to the URL of the keyword-URL pair. Failing a match against the lists, the user's browser is redirected to a Netscape Search page with the typed string as the search query.
U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 60/143,859 filed Jul. 15, 1999, by Schneider entitled “Method and apparatus for generation, registration, resolution, and emulation of name space”, now abandoned, uses a domain name having a top level domain alias (TLDA) to simultaneously access and search a given resource demonstrating the combination of both resolution and search services. For instance, when input is received and processed such as “http://example.44106”, steps are performed to determine that “0.44106” is not a resolvable TLD and may be processed instead as a search term. Steps may then be performed to translate input into a valid URI such as “http://example.com/weather.cgi?zip=44106”. When the URI is accessed, a CGI script called “weather” is executed passing the value “44106” for the name “zip”, which in this case represents a zip code. By so doing a fictitious name is used to simultaneously access both a resource and search request.
This clearly demonstrates the need for methods of encouraging the creative use of URIs to access resources. Accordingly, in light of the above, there is a strong need in the art for a system and method to improve how resources and content may be accessed.